• Dashboard will provide overview of vulnerability across the whole client base to improve insight into customer outcomes and how they can be improved
• The dashboard will be invaluable for firms reporting back to the Financial Conduct Authority, especially ahead of new regulations in 2022

Clinical regtech provider Comentis today announces the launch of its new financial vulnerability analytics tool – a dashboard which presents firms with an overview of the vulnerability trends that exist among their customer base.

The dashboard uses insights collected from vulnerability assessments, carried out through Comentis’ Cognitive Assessment Engine (CAE), and presents the data in a clear, granular way.

Using the CAE, firms have been able to identify vulnerable customers much more consistently. With the new analytics dashboard, users will now be able to see a 360 view of all clients, including who have been identified as potentially vulnerable and why, and what steps have been taken to support these customers. Crucially, firms can use the dashboard to catalogue where action has not been taken, presenting an accurate view of the entire client base and making internal monitoring for at risk customers much more seamless.

Not only will the platform make internal customer vulnerability monitoring more efficient, it will also contribute to a much more manageable external reporting process. This is especially relevant in light of the FCA’s plans to crackdown on the identification and support of vulnerable customers in 2022 following the guidance published earlier this year. Comentis expects increased regulation to be widespread across various sectors and has warned firms that vulnerability reporting at quite a granular level will soon become a norm.

When the time comes for reporting to the FCA, firms using the dashboard will have all the relevant information they need in one place, rather than having to pull information from various different systems. The tool will therefore help to make the task of reporting much easier and more time efficient.

Jonathan Barrett, Co-Founder & CEO of Comentis, comments:

“The collection and analysis of customer data is extremely important if we are going to improve the way we identify and support vulnerable customers. However, we are often seeing the wrong type or incomplete data being used as a basis for both reporting and policy. This is further compounded by the piecemeal way it is collected. Transactional and factfind data are a great place to start, but do not necessarily allow the identification of resilience and capability issues which is no longer acceptable or viable. This is where our clinical approach differs - our dashboard and analytics provide a unique insight into all the triggers that the FCA consider factors in identifying vulnerability. 

“The whole point of our dashboard is to help individual advisers monitor and support their clients much more closely, especially when there are so many variables that could impact a person’s status. At the same time, the dashboard organises these findings in a clear and easy to decipher way, making reporting much more manageable and less time consuming. That means advisers can focus on what they do best – giving the right support to their clients.”

Lisa Bailey, Compliance Officer at Wessex Wealth Managers, a firm that uses the tech, said:

“The new vulnerability dashboard and analytics are really helpful in monitoring not only our vulnerable clients as a whole, but also what actions we are taking as a firm to ensure no clients slip through the net. We are already finding the assessment tool really useful at an individual client level and being able to view trends and actions at a firm level will be invaluable. It's also fair to say that it should make any future reporting a lot quicker and easier for us and that's always a good thing.”